Actor Grant Gustin wore the Flash suit for nine years as he starred as the titular character in The CW’s The Flash. A part of the Arrowverse series of TV shows, The Flash saw Barry Allen become the scarlet speedster after being struck by lightning in Central City. The series sees him fight various antagonists and also find the killer of his mother.
Though he was grateful for getting the opportunity to play the character, Gustin reportedly suffered while putting on the costume for the show. The Flash costume included a red one-piece suit and a face mask that covered most of his face. The actor mentioned how tough it was to get in and out of the suit and how he used to spend hours in the suit while filming.
Grant Gustin Expresses His Discomfort With The Flash Costume
Actor Grant Gustin, who was known for his role in the musical drama Glee, was cast as Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash for The CW’s Arrowverse. While he made his first appearance in the second season of Arrow, he finally received his own spinoff show The Flash, which debuted in 2014. The series followed Allen’s adventures as the speedster as he worked with S.T.A.R Labs to find humans affected by a particle accelerator explosion.
The actor played the role for nine years and the show had its series finale in May of 2023. While Gustin was bittersweet about the show ending, one bit about the process he reportedly did not miss as much. The actor spoke about the arduous task of putting on and taking off the Flash costume over the years and how uncomfortable the experience was.
In an interview with EW, he mentioned how the costume team would stick the costume to him as it had to look evened out on screen and that it was extremely tight. He also said how he had to be in the costume for hours on end while filming and sometimes it would need many people to remove it off of him. He said,
“The armpits were the weirdest spot. It was the most painful, other than the face mask. They really had to wedge it in there to get it so it wasn’t droopy…I could mostly get in it [on my own] but getting out of it was something that I couldn’t even begin to do by myself…it could be a nightmare at times.”
Grant Gustin said that he would sometimes take off the mask and just let it hang if he had a few minutes before his shot so that he would not be so uncomfortable. The actor mentioned that the suit would heat up and it would be a pain for him to be on it during long hours.
Despite The Discomfort, Grant Gustin Missed Putting On The Suit After The Show Ended
Grant Gustin played the role of Barry Allen for nine years in The Flash and portrayed the speedster in other spinoff shows of the Arrowverse such as Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Titans, and Supergirl. The actor lived in the character and the world of Central City for nine years of his career and formed a deep attachment to the character.
He mentioned to EW that despite hating the costume-wearing process, he understood the importance of it and spoke about how Christopher Reeves influenced him as a child and how the Flash costume was meant for him to wear. He mentioned that he had a bittersweet moment on set when he was taking off the costume for the last time after his final shot.
“The whole last season, knowing it was the last season, just putting the boots on and zipping it, I knew that I was running out of times that I was going to be doing that. And every time I took it off, I knew one of these times it’s going to be the last time I take it off.”
Gustin reportedly filmed the scene where he hangs up the suit for the last time as his final shot in The Flash and his wife and daughter had come up to watch the ending. He mentioned how lucky he felt to be the one wearing the costume.
